Frequency for asiasat

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the commercial transmission of all local private television channels using the feed of country’s first communication satellite Bangabandhu-I (BS-I).
BCSCL
The Prime Minister inaugurated the service while addressing a function on the occasion at a city hotel on Wednesday, reports BSS.
With its inauguration, the country’s broadcast industry is going to enter a new era as the BS-I will save a huge amount of foreign currency to be paid by local TVs as rent.
Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud spoke on the occasion as the special guest with Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar in chair.
Secretary of Posts and Telecommunications Division Ashoke Kumar Biswas and Chairman of the Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO), a platform of private television channel owners, Annan Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion.
An audio-video presentation on the multifaceted use of the Bangabandhu Sattelite-1 in various sectors for the country’s overall development was made.
Officials concerned said local TV channels have been receiving feed from
Apstar 7 and AsiaSat satellites in exchange of US$ 4,000 per Mega Hartz frequency each month on an average.
Earlier on May 19, Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL) signed formal agreements with six local TV channels — Somoy TV, Jamuna TV, Deepto TV, Bijoy TV, Bangla TV and MY TV — for the use of BS-I.
In addition, four channels of the state-owned BTV has been running operation through the feed of BS-I.
All the TVs for their transmission would require the capacities of five transponders of the BS-I.
Besides, the local D2H Akash of BEXIMCO has rented six transponders.
The BCSCL has also connected all TV channels through fiber optic cable with its ground station instead of installing earth station to minimize the cost of TV channel owners.
French manufacturer Thales Alenia Space in November last year handed over the controlling authority of BS-I to BCSCL,